AB Video Solutions

Background

AB Video Solutions, LLC (also known as AB Surveilance Solutions) was a division of Baltimore-based art and performance collective Wham City, founded by collective members Alan Resnick and Ben O'Brien in 2012. The company is best known for their collaborations with Williams Street, creating television specials, shorts and internet content for Adult Swim, as well as the webseries The Children of The Mirror for IFC Originals. The studio closed in 2020 and Wham City went on indefinite hiatus in early 2022, with the collective's individual members continuing to make content independently following the closure.

1st Logo (December 23, 2013-2020)

Visuals: On a starry background, there is a blue A and a red B overlapping each other, with the space where the two letters overlap being empty. The letters partially separate before zooming out in a swirling motion. When the logo stops, the screen quickly flashes as the two letters become hollow, the word "VIDEO" appears next to it with a red and green gradient and "solutions, LLC" in a white thin font appear underneath the logo. In the bottom-right corner, a blue byline reading "a division of Wham City, Maryland, USA" appears and faintly glows as the screen flashes. The gradient in "VIDEO" transitions into orange and blue.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: A 10 note-fanfare played on a synth keyboard, with the final note harmonizing.

Availability: Found on the studios TV specials such as Live Forever as You Are Now with Alan Resnick (with the exception of This House Has People In It, which uses the next logo) as well as their short films and the IFC webseries The Children of The Mirror. It does not appear on any of the studio's live-streamed content for Adult Swim.

2nd Logo (This House Has People In It variant, March 15, 2016)

Icon version

Visuals: On a blue background, there is the overlapping AB letters from the previous logo, this time in a white serif font and with horizontal stripes running through the logo. The logo zooms out in a swirling motion and stops, with the text "SURVEILANCE SOLUTIONS" slowly forming next to the logo and the text "WORLD WORLD WEB . ABSURVEILANCESOLUTIONS . DOTCOM" appearing beneath the complete logo, both in a thick computer font. A dashed line appears below the website, as the following text slowly generates beneath the line:

"TECHNICAL_INFORMATION

AB Surveilance Solutions is a subsidiary of AB Video Solutions, LLC
AB Video Solutions, LLC is a divison of Wham City.

"**** MODEL 3.8.5.5.19.5 ### PARTS 16.5.16.16.5.18.15.14.9 ****
_1__Please check to make sure hardware is installed correctly by pressing 3 on the dial pad. You should see a face.
If you find any errors (no face) reboot system using yellow key in installation kit (page 7).

Logging out of archive...
logging out of server...
System shutting down..."

After this text finishes generating, the following text begins to generate in the top left corner of the screen:

"48.8567N 2.3588E
41.9000N 12.4833E
17.83335 31.0500E
15.4167S 28.2833E
28.8000N 2.0000E"

Trivia:

The website shown in the logo is a real website that you can visit here. The website, along with the television special, is part of a larger ARG (alternate-reality game.)
For a single frame right before the Williams Street logo, a pink humanoid character with two rows of teeth in a washed-out surveillance photo can be seen.

Variant: The finished AB symbol also appears at the beginning of the special in the bottom-left corner and during the end credits prior to the logo in the bottom-right corner.

Technique: 2D animation designed to emulate the look of an old computer BIOS, complete with skipping frames and occasional frame cuts. The one-frame shot is in live-action.

Audio: A chiptune version of the previous logo's fanfare, with an additional 4 notes added to the end and the faint sound of static.

Availability: Only appears on This House Has People In It and related media.